Vermont, 1775.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | BOURBON | 40 % |
| 2 dashes | ANGOSTURA BITTERS | 44 % |
| 5 oz · 150 ml | APPLE CIDER |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 7.06 oz mixed with ice, 0.83 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Built in the glass: +5 % of the pre-batch, +0.35 oz of water |
| Served | 7.06 + 0.35 = 7.41 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.83 ÷ 7.41 = 11.1 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.83 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 19 g · about 135 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM BOURBON · from oak barrel aging
Bourbon's fingerprint, extracted from the charred American oak the law requires for aging. Same molecule as the vanilla bean's signature, so a well-aged bourbon legitimately tastes like vanilla. Chemistry, not metaphor. Cognac, aged rum, tequila reposado all extract vanillin from oak too. Different barrels, same molecule.
ALSO IN Old Fashioned · Manhattan · Whiskey Sour · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Espresso Martini · Mai Tai
FROM HARD CIDER · the apple polyphenol
The apple-skin polyphenol, the molecule that gives hard cider its astringent backbone and tannic structure. Concentrated in skin and core, so cider pressed from whole apples carries far more than juice made from peeled fruit. Pharmacologically interesting too: phloridzin blocks intestinal glucose absorption, which is the mechanism modern SGLT2-inhibitor diabetes drugs took their inspiration from.
ALSO IN Jack Rose · Diamondback · Pink Lady · Apple Brandy Sour · Spanish Mojito
FROM ANGOSTURA
The bitter from gentian root, used across Campari, Aperol, sweet vermouth, Angostura, and most amari. Bitter compounds activate TAS2R taste receptors that evolved to detect plant alkaloids. The same machinery that makes broccoli taste bad to children also makes a Negroni taste like an adult ordered it.
ALSO IN Negroni · Manhattan · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Naked & Famous · Last Word · Vieux Carré
Bourbon, Angostura and hard cider. Apple phloridzin, cider yeast autolysates and bourbon vanillin make an autumn-American combination. It is said to have been Ethan Allen's drink before the 1775 capture of Fort Ticonderoga.
Said to be the drink Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys downed before crossing Lake Champlain to capture Fort Ticonderoga from the British on May 10, 1775; possibly mythologized. Hard cider was the universal American beverage of the 18th century; rum was its spirit then; whiskey took over in 19th-century versions such as Jerry Thomas's of 1862. The Stone Fence is one of the few documented Revolutionary-era cocktails to survive into the modern repertoire. David Wondrich's 2007 Imbibe! brought it back to working bartenders.
